OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program

The OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program (MRSGP) provides internal research funding opportunities designed to achieve the greatest impact for seeding and advancing excellence in materials research of varying scopes. It is jointly funded and managed by the Center for Emergent Materials (CEM), an NSF MRSEC [NSF DMR-2011876], the Center for Exploration of Novel Complex Materials (ENCOMM), and the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR).

 

2023-2024 Request for Proposals

We are pleased to announce the 2023-2024 OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program (MRSGP) Request for Proposals (RFP), which is open to The Ohio State University (OSU) materials community. This integrated seed program leverages resources and best practices of the Center for Emergent Materials (CEM), the Center for Exploration of Novel Complex Materials (ENCOMM), and the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR). The result is a unified RFP with Funding Tiers designed to achieve the greatest impact for seeding excellence in materials research of varying scopes, and with the goal of generating new directions that extend beyond the boundaries of existing research programs.

The three funding tiers of the OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program offered this cycle are:

1. Proto-IRG Grants

Proto-IRG Grants provide funds in direct costs, require one Principal Investigator (PI) and two or more Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs), and may have unfunded collaborators with the goal of forming new Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) for the CEM, a National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).

2. Multidisciplinary Team Building Grants (MTBG)

MTBGs provide funds in direct costs, and require one PI and one or two Co-PI, and may have unfunded collaborators, with the goal of forming multidisciplinary materials research teams that can compete effectively for federal block-funding opportunities, such as the NSF MRSEC program.

3. Exploratory Materials Research Grants (EMRG)

EMRGs provide funds in direct costs, and require one PI, and may have Co-PIs and/or unfunded collaborators, with the goal of enabling nascent and innovative materials research to emerge to the point of being competitive for external funding. EMRGs, while open to all faculty, emphasizes support of pre-tenure faculty members.

 

Downloads

Click here for the Request for Proposal (RFP)

Click here for the Quad Chart Template

 

Key Dates

  • Request for Proposals Issued: Monday, November 27, 2023
  • Letters of Intent Due: Monday, January 8, 2024 at 5:00 PM ET
  • Notice of MRSGP Appropriateness: Monday, January 15, 2024
  • Proto-IRG and Multidisciplinary Team Building Grants tiers only – Mandatory Team Proposal Presentations: Wednesday, January 24, January 31, February 7, and February 14, 2024
    • 3:00PM – 4:00 PM ET, Physics Research Building, Room 4138
  • Proposals Due (All Funding Tiers): Monday, March 18, 2024 at 5:00 PM ET
  • Awards Announced (anticipated): August 2024
  • Funded Projects Start Date (anticipated): September 1, 2024 (12-month project period)

 

Additional Information

Have a question? Please contact IMR Proposal Development Specialist Joanna Gardner at gardner.306@osu.edu

2022-23 Award Announcement

We are pleased to announce that after a thorough internal and external review process, 4 Exploratory Materials Research Grants (EMRGs), 2 Multidisciplinary Team Building Grants (MTBGs), and 2 Proto-IRG Grants have been selected to fund exceptionally promising, innovative materials research on campus.

EMRGs – enable nascent and innovative materials research to emerge to the point of being competitive for external funding:

  1. “Site-Controlled InGaN/GaN Quantum Dots in GaN Nanowires for Single Photo Emission”

PI: Shamsul Arafin; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  1. “Epitaxial Strain Control of Ferroelectricity for Advanced Microelectronics”

PI: Kaveh Ahadi; Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Electric and Computer Engineering

  1. “Polar Instabilities in Locally Polar Superconductors”

PI: Salva Salmani-Rezaie; Department of Materials Science and Engineering

  1. “Design & Synthesis of Functional Covalent Organic Frameworks for the Photocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Chemical Fuels & Feedstocks”

PI: Psaras McGrier; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

 

MTBGSs – forming multidisciplinary materials research teams that can compete effectively for federal block-funding opportunities, such as the NSF MRSEC program:

  1. “Polymer-Based Enzymatic Nanomaterials”

PI: David Wood; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Co-PI: Davita Watkins; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

  1. “Signal Transducing Nanodevice Assemblies for Triggered Materials Self-assembly”

PI: Carlos Castro; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

 

Proto-IRGs – forming multidisciplinary materials research teams that can compete effectively for federal block-funding opportunities, such as the NSF MRSEC program:

  1. “Topological States Beyond Crystaline Materials”

PI: Jinwoo Hwang; Department of Material Science and Engineering

Co-PI; Yuan-Ming; Department of Physics

Co-PI; Jyoti Katoch; Department of Physics

  1. “In situ Control of Band Gaps & Intersubband Transition of 2D Semiconductors”    

PI: Jeanie Lau; Department of Physics

Co-PI; Roberto Myers; Department of Material Sciences and Engineering

Co-PI; Wolfgang Windl; Department of Material Sciences and Engineering

 

 

In Winter 2011, a new OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program became available to The Ohio State University (OSU) materials community.

This enhanced seed program leverages resources and best practices from the seed programs of the Center for Emergent Materials (CEM), the Center for the Exploration of Novel Complex Materials (ENCOMM), and the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR). The result was a unified RFP with three Funding Tiers designed to achieve the greatest impact for seeding excellence in materials research of varying scopes.

This OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program replaces the previously separate CEM Proto-IRG, ENCOMM Seed Grant, and IMR Interdisciplinary Materials Research Grant (IMRG) programs. As a result, the proposal submission and review processes have been integrated and aligned.

OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Funding Tiers

Multidisciplinary Team Building Grants
Exploratory Materials Research Grants
Interdisciplinary Research Groups (not being requested in this RFP)

 

Information on past OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program awards